Hot on the heels of Occupy Chicago's court victory over last year's illegal eviction from Grant Park (all charges for the 305 arrestees have been dropped) the group teamed up with the Wisconsin-based Overpass Light Brigade in a joint action Monday night. It served to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the eviction and raise awareness of the national foreclosure crisis.

With 14 million home foreclosures recorded in the last five years, we cannot lose track of the fact that those homes contained people – mothers, fathers, kids and grandparents – many of whom could have remained in their homes if the banks were willing to work with the families to come up with some kind of shared financial sacrifice. But no, the bailed-out institutions who streamlined their mass-robbery with predatory lending, robosigners, and mortgage-backed securities still have little interest in fixing the problems they created. That leaves it up to citizen activists in the growing home defense movement to find creative techniques to draw attention to this national disgrace.

Occupy Chicago and the OLB marched through downtown Chicago with their beautiful light message before gathering at "The Horse" statue in Grant Park for a speak-out against the banks. It was a fine example of the power of peaceful and playful protest.

When a teachers’ strike started to look like a realistic possibility earlier this spring, CPS Chief Communications Officer Becky Carroll warned the readers of Catalyst, “Any talk of a strike is the wrong message to send our schools, students and taxpayers.” For her, and the rest of the privatization evangelists at CPS, the “right” message is simple—shut up and do what you’re told.

Of course, Carroll, who makes $165,000 per year, isn’t paid that kind of money to tell the truth. Luckily for us, neither Chicago teachers nor the larger education community are giving much credence to CPS talking points.

The corporate education “reformers” have been experimenting on Chicago’s most underserved students and schools for more than two decades, trying any quick-fix makeovers so long as such schemes keep the public out of the discussion on how best to educate our city’s children. The so-called innovations taking place in charter and turnaround schools are making chaos of students’ formative years and relegating the art of teaching to rote instruction.

Faced with such a dire situation, the Chicago Teachers Union’s decision to strike is perhaps the best lesson they could have planned—when the powers that be are shutting you out of your life, you must take a stand. And it’s a lesson that teachers themselves learned from the communities they serve.

Before CTU President Karen Lewis and members of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) became the new union leadership in 2010, the CTU, like its national union, the American Federation of Teachers, was a willing pawn in the privatization game. CORE broke from the CTU leadership and won respect from the majority of union members by actively supporting parent- and student-led protests at schools across the city. After gaining office, they continued to organize against privatization with the already active education community, and to educate its own members about the importance of doing so.

Chicago students are already at the forefront of the fight. Dyett High School students, along with students from 16 other states, have petitioned the Department of Education to investigate racial disparities in the allocation of school resources. They’ve already met with officials at the Department of Education, and on September 20, they’ll be taking “Freedom Rides” to Washington, D.C., to bring more attention to their cause.

Meanwhile, hundreds of students at Social Justice High School in Little Village have disrupted their school day with sit-ins to protest the dismantling of their school. So CPS shouldn’t worry about the strike giving “wrong” ideas to students—the students are already leading the charge, and are just in their cause.

If anything, they should worry about these students further influencing the CTU. Unlike its portrayal as a selfish bully in the 1% Chicago Tribune, the CORE-led CTU has been a partner to community groups fighting for quality public education. Now, hostile contract negotiations have opened a window for the union to elevate the anti-privatization fight to a national level.

As former CPS CEO Arne Duncan continues to spread the hollow gospel of corporate reform as the nation’s secretary of education, and as his predecessor Paul Vallas preaches the same throughout South America, it’s about time that Chicago, the birthplace of this failed faith, denounces it publicly.

Chicago teachers are likely to strike tomorrow, Monday, September 10th. Please join MORE (Movement of Rank-and-File Educators) and Occupy Wall Street to stand with them in solidarity!

When: Monday, September 10th at 5pmWhere: Meet at the south side of Union Square (14th Street)

Teachers in Chicago are striking for increased resources and quality programs for students and fair working conditions for teachers.

MORE sees the Chicago teachers’ fight as part of a growing national resistance movement against corporate-backed education reformers who bash teachers, push high stakes testing, and promote school privatization as solutions to the problems in our public education system. The destructive “reforms” being pushed in Chicago are the same as those we see here in New York.

Come early at 4:30 to make signs. We’ll have some supplies, but folks are strongly encouraged to bring extra poster board and markers. After a rally with speeches from several union activists, we’ll march at 5:30 to the New York office of Democrats for Education reform, a PAC made up of hedge fund managers seeking to profit from school privatization schemes. DFER has sponsored anti-CTU ads and petitions in Chicago and supports pro-charter, pro-reform candidates and policies here in New York. The DFER office is at 928 Broadway between 21st and 22nd Streets.

The United States is in need of change, now more than ever, and that change must come from the people. We can no longer rely on politicians to save us. Politicians are bought and sold by the very interests that are destroying our society, and our president Barack Obama is no different. After coming into office under the guise of hope and change, we have seen more of the same policies and actions that brought us to our current situation. Now more than ever it is time for a real change.

With the upcoming presidential election, we are going to be given two sides of the same corporate coin. Without question, we reject the idea that Mitt Romney, the man behind Bain Capital, can do anything other than gut what remains of the public sector, destroy what remains of our social services, and empower corporations to further take over our country.

Barack Obama's agenda is not so different from that of Mitt Romney's. If Obama is elected we will continue to see more human rights abuses, the rolling back of our constitutional rights, and a continuation of the silent coup that corporate America is executing on what remains of our sham of a democracy.

Beginning today, Occupy Chicago will join with activists around Chicago and take a stand. We will highlight the contradictions between President Obama's promise of “hope and change” and his actual policy decisions during a four day occupation of his campaign headquarters. Each day will feature actions, teach-ins, and opportunities to share in community and grow our movement. Join us!

PORTLAND, OR: FREE PFC. MANNING – END THE DRONE WARS

Cascadians Against War have been organizing a big action that will occur this Thursday, August 16th from 10am to 4pm at an Army Recruiting Station near you. Then at 4:30pm everyone will meet up at the Lloyd Center Recruiting Station for the announcement of a big surprise. Here’s the details:

In a coordinated West Coast action demanding the immediate release of PFC Manning, we will once again be shutting down 5 military recruiting locations throughout Portland, Beaverton and Gresham. We’re also demanding an end to the drone wars. Our drones have killed 4,371 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia alone. This DOES NOT include Iraq & Afghanistan…

We’re asking supporters to go to any of the 5 Army recruitment locations to help us shut them down again! Show your support for PFC Manning and demand an END TO THE DRONE WARS! Your location choices are as follows:
Gresham at 830 NW Eastman Parkway
Beaverton at 2660 SW Cedar Hills Blvd
Eastport Plaza at 4200 SE 82nd Ave Ste 1100
Lloyd Center at 1317 NE Broadway
Battalion Headquarters at 6130 NE 78th Ct

We’ll be shutting down at least these locations from 10am-4pm. Then we’ll meet up at the Lloyd Center recruiting location at 4:30pm and go on a short march to watch and support the surprise!

CHICAGO: OCCUPIED AIR AND WATER SHOW TRAINING

Every summer Chicago's lakefront is assaulted with a public relations spectacle for the military industrial complex known as the Air and Water Show. While the "Show" brings the sounds of war to Chicago each August, it leaves out one crucial detail: death. That changes this year with an act of symbolism from Occupy Chicago.

The Occupy Chicago Direct Action Committee has put together a piece of political theater to highlight the real purpose of these war machines. There is just one missing ingredient though, YOU.

Meet up at The Horse (Congress and Michigan) on Thursday August 16th to debrief and get ready for Saturdays action. We are asking that all those interested in participating on Saturday join us for this training.

Meetup at the foot of the North Ave. bridge on the WEST side - as early as possible Saturday morning - so we can stake out ground as close as possible to the bridge. (There will also be a contingent as usual staking out the EAST (beach) side. ;-)